I made this awesome archive of builds, and I want your best builds to enrich the site even further. 1,000+ people a day will see your builds and of course see your name on it. I have already worked with several people from these forums who provided me with excellent guides, but I want to go public to also contact people who have awesome ideas, but they can´t or don´t want to write a fully fleshed out guide themselves. If you are one of those people please read on.
Please quickly go through the following short checklist before submitting any guides:

The build MUST contain/be:
- Exact enough item load-out and upgrade information to reproduce it
- The build must be tested and deemed a powerful and useful build. Please refrain from submitting "styler" builds.
- 1 screenshot showcasing a successful match or the build in action
- 3+ tips & tricks on how to play this effectively or what to consider when playing it

Optionally I´d like to see:
- Even more screenshots. People love pictures!
- A short lore text (1-2 paragraphs), if you can come up with something worthy.
- Your build as an mwo-smurfy link (http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab)
- I am especially looking for Catapult, Stalker, any light Mech, and Hero Mech builds.

What you DON´T need to do:
- Format your guide in any way
- Worry about its layout

Why you should help me:
- You will enrich the community with a nice build.
- You don´t have to write the whole guide by yourself, just provide some corner stone information.
- Your pilot´s name and link to your profile will be engraved on a page with 500 visitors per day (steadily rising).
- Provide another useful place for eager recruits to get direct, useful, and up to date information about the game.

All you have to do is send me a pm, e-mail (mechwarrioronlinebuilds@googlemail.com), or reply to this topic with your build information (or, if you already wrote it down or published it somewhere, a link to your build/files). Thank you.

LONG VERSION / ADDITIONAL INFO

Fellow Pilots,

Right away I want to apologise for the stupid title of this topic, but I had a really hard time to come up with a decent one.
In November 2012, I launched a website which sole goal was and is to provide an archive of good Mechwarrior Online builds (Mech load-outs/setups whatever you want to call it). I set myself the following directives for the site:
- The builds should be of above average quality (this also means no "styler" or experimental builds)
- The builds should be short enough to read, understand, and implement them within seconds. No long explanations, just short tips and all you need to know to get started.
- Provide a graphical and easy to read format for displaying the actual builds. At the moment, this is accomplished using images for installed upgrades and providing a mwo.smurfy-net.de link for most builds.
- Provide at least one build per variant for all existing Mechs
- Keep the site updated. If a build no longer works well or becomes outdated due to changes in game mechanics or balance, those builds will be flagged as such.
- Make builds searchable by roles, chassis, and other flags. A category system for this is already in place, but it will be extended and more functional as new builds arrive and time goes by.
All these directives have been upheld and will be upheld as long as they are judged as adequate.

At this time (Jul 2013), roughly 1,000 viewers visit the site every day. If you want to take a look at the page right now, here is the link: http://mwo-builds.net/

I now ask you to send in your best builds to enrich the blog and thus the community. You don´t even need to flesh out your build completely. It is enough to follow the short bullet points given under the SHORT version above.
Thank you for reading through all of this and I am eager to receive some PMs with awesome builds!

Get connected

mwo-builds.net is now also on Facebook and Twitter. Like and follow to get the latest builds directly to your favourite social platform. Will also occasionally retweet important information about Mechwarrior Online events and happenings. At this time (Aug 2013) we are at 125 fans and 60 followers. Need moare!@mwobuildsnet

That is an interesting variant you´ve proposed, but I think I will stick to the builds in the messages I´ve received this night. Maybe, if you flesh out your build a little more I can do something and post your Atlas setup to the blog. Keep on it, we all believe you can do it!

@all who already sent me messages: I will reply to each and every one of you individually so please be patient while I try to find time to write at least a short personal response. Thank you

Because then I cant zombie. Plus only my legs REALLY need more armor, i almost NEVER get headshoted because the awesome head is WAY smaller than it looks, and the other arm has nothing in it and that SHIELD ARM **** is NOT true with the awesome. you can hit the side torso from the side easily, Shield arms aren't really worth it really except on the centurion

Because then I cant zombie. Plus only my legs REALLY need more armor, i almost NEVER get headshoted because the awesome head is WAY smaller than it looks, and the other arm has nothing in it and that SHIELD ARM **** is NOT true with the awesome. you can hit the side torso from the side easily, Shield arms aren't really worth it really except on the centurion

I don´t have enough experience with the Awesome to judge whether or not your shield arm is really that ineffective. If that´s true then I guess you have a valid point. I personally like setups that are able to zombie. It adds greatly to your effectiveness on the battlefield.
Good chance your build will appear on the site within the next couple days.

My best build is my AWS-9M. It is the perfect mix of speed, armor and firepower. I get 2-3 kill on average but 4 or 5 is by no means an exception. These are the results of some games I played tonight:http://cloud.steampo...C26FDBAFC61BA9/

Key to this mech is positioning and knowing when to focus specific targets. But that is the case for most mechs. But is just works best on this mech. I like to flank or strike from behind. You can kill most mechs with alpha's without overheating in this.

I would post something about the Pretty Baby but I feel it is inferior to the 9M because of heat management and accuracy.

Tactics: Harrassment, flanking, finishing. Use your speed to stay out of line of sight, hide behind other mechs. Stay with an assault if you can, or opperate with other mediums/fast heavies. Use lasers for targets of opportunity. Save your SRMs for high value targets, finishing severely wounded, and when you cant miss.
I like to manuver behind an enemy, using him for a shield while taking the ears off cats/stalkers. De-earing seems to be my specialty.

I split my weapon groups into left arm/head, right arm, SRMs, tag (if used). Just be carefull on heat!

I have a bunch of fun builds but one build I have become happy with is My Cicada 3M. Most Cicada pilots choose the fastest engines available, but I find the set up that worked for me was to slow down. I put a XL255 instead of the 300/320 and run LB10X 2 tons of ammo (30 shots) with 4 Med lasers. Top speed is around 103 and 113 with speed tweak. Endo/Ferro and Double Heat sinks are also used.

Not the best for scouting however with ECM I give coverage to the main group and I try and harass any scouts that I come across and they are quick to turn tail and run when I start firing. Its definitely a good anti scout mech with the punch needed for the larger mechs when your in a scrum. With some tweaks you can run an AC 10 or downgrade to UAC 5 with more ammo. The only issue I find with this is while the damage is nice as well as range The possibility of missing is higher. Those confident with there aim could do very well with AC 10 or UAC 5.

Once you run out of ammo you still have ECM and 4 MED lasers. Not too shabby because if you run out of ammo your opponents should be pretty banged up that your lasers should be able to finish them off.

Use it for long to mid range combat. Set the large lasers into 2 groups to allow you to manage the heat. Setting them so your left and right fire independently will also allow you to fire around corners with out wasting heat.

Do not fire the medium lasers at anything not inside their effective range. When the fight gets in too close use your medium lasers as your primary weapons and only fire your large lasers when you have a clear shot. Use your weapon groups to limit your heat generation when in close. You may wish to have a 4th weapon group with all of your large lasers on chain fire for when the fight comes in too close.

Above all, try your best to keep the enemy at bay and only brawl when you have to. Support your team from just outside the main combat area and try to avoid becoming the center of attention.

Reasonably fast, accurate "no brains required" firepower. Not a lot of heat problems. Good across a lot of ranges. Its been VERY effective for me. Fire 2 large lasers continuously, add in the 3rd LL or SSRMs as opportunities come up, and you will not overheat. The SSRMs are nice for shooting past friendlies, and harrassing lights.

The center laser fires from the right side a bit, so I pair it with the right torso laser.
In matches, I usually spend the beginning of the fight sniping from cover (use rocks, etc, on your left side, pop out slightly and fire right side, move back into cover).
As the fight progresses, I try to stay at mid range of my targets, targeting brawlers that have engaged, usually staying between 300-450 meters out, to stay out of the range of the more powerful brawler weapons. Sometimes I wind up dealing with mechs that have flanked our team, or gotten behind the brawlers.

Thanks to all who responded in this thread. I try to provide short personal answers in this post, but please do not be offended if you find copy/pasted lines or seemingly disrespectful wording. I have a lot to do IRL atm and have received multiple other builds via PM and the blog as well (which is a great thing but all of that requires time). I know I am nagging very much on the "at least one screenshot" thing, but it is very important for the look and feel of the webpage, your guide will get more attention with a good screenshot (I have views+clicks to proove that) and everybody loves colorful images of your ownage end-game-screenshots or your chassis in your new paint! \ /

Helo229, on 16 February 2013 - 06:55 PM, said:

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My founder's Atlas-D
2 LBX10's
4 MLaser
2 SRM6+Artemis
Find a choke point or an area with a few corners, and proceed to punish anyone who enters your territory.

Is the Artemis really worth the tonnage? Have you tried this build without Artemis?
Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an ingame Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

Draxa, on 16 February 2013 - 06:30 PM, said:

One of my absolute favorites, my Founders cat, C1http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c90fb2281b914e0
Reasonably fast, accurate "no brains required" firepower. Not a lot of heat problems. Good across a lot of ranges. Its been VERY effective for me. Fire 2 large lasers continuously, add in the 3rd LL or SSRMs as opportunities come up, and you will not overheat. The SSRMs are nice for shooting past friendlies, and harrassing lights.
The center laser fires from the right side a bit, so I pair it with the right torso laser.
In matches, I usually spend the beginning of the fight sniping from cover (use rocks, etc, on your left side, pop out slightly and fire right side, move back into cover).
As the fight progresses, I try to stay at mid range of my targets, targeting brawlers that have engaged, usually staying between 300-450 meters out, to stay out of the range of the more powerful brawler weapons. Sometimes I wind up dealing with mechs that have flanked our team, or gotten behind the brawlers.
Sustained firepower is this builds main strength.

This seems to be a decent brawler. However, I cannot test that build right now since I am not a founder On the other hand, most people aren't so I guess it's more of a niche thing and I can proceed to post this build soon without further checking.
Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an ingame Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

Raso, on 16 February 2013 - 06:29 PM, said:

Awesome 8Q
Use it for long to mid range combat. Set the large lasers into 2 groups to allow you to manage the heat. Setting them so your left and right fire independently will also allow you to fire around corners with out wasting heat.
Do not fire the medium lasers at anything not inside their effective range. When the fight gets in too close use your medium lasers as your primary weapons and only fire your large lasers when you have a clear shot. Use your weapon groups to limit your heat generation when in close. You may wish to have a 4th weapon group with all of your large lasers on chain fire for when the fight comes in too close.
Above all, try your best to keep the enemy at bay and only brawl when you have to. Support your team from just outside the main combat area and try to avoid becoming the center of attention.

This sounds like a nice build. I am currently saving for another large chassis. It will be a Stalker or an Awesome. I can see it becoming something like your build. I will consider your build for posting. Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an ingame Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

rain LRMs, and when lights come a calling, 4 medium lasers usually help run them off. Its a fun mech.

This looks fun, easy to use and affordable for new players and people who just want to try out new stuff. I like it. Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an in-game Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

Ah very nice. Raven 3L is quite a popular Mech at the moment and now I can provide a decent setup for this variant. This will probably be posted very soon. Can you come up with a handful of gameplay hints (apart from adding a TAG) or things to consider while playing.
Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an ingame Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

Draako, on 16 February 2013 - 05:57 PM, said:

I have a bunch of fun builds but one build I have become happy with is My Cicada 3M. Most Cicada pilots choose the fastest engines available, but I find the set up that worked for me was to slow down. I put a XL255 instead of the 300/320 and run LB10X 2 tons of ammo (30 shots) with 4 Med lasers. Top speed is around 103 and 113 with speed tweak. Endo/Ferro and Double Heat sinks are also used.

Not the best for scouting however with ECM I give coverage to the main group and I try and harass any scouts that I come across and they are quick to turn tail and run when I start firing. Its definitely a good anti scout mech with the punch needed for the larger mechs when your in a scrum. With some tweaks you can run an AC 10 or downgrade to UAC 5 with more ammo. The only issue I find with this is while the damage is nice as well as range The possibility of missing is higher. Those confident with there aim could do very well with AC 10 or UAC 5.

Once you run out of ammo you still have ECM and 4 MED lasers. Not too shabby because if you run out of ammo your opponents should be pretty banged up that your lasers should be able to finish them off.

An interesting take on the whole thing. So you can definitely not scout with this Mech but rather "run with the main pack"?! Cool, I'll try it. That role could be described as a sentry (if something like that exists). Could you please provide at least one screenshot for this build. Either the Mech with nice paint, an end-of-round screenshot where you did good with this specific build, or an ingame Mechbay view of an important part of this build.

Tactics: Harrassment, flanking, finishing. Use your speed to stay out of line of sight, hide behind other mechs. Stay with an assault if you can, or opperate with other mediums/fast heavies. Use lasers for targets of opportunity. Save your SRMs for high value targets, finishing severely wounded, and when you cant miss.
I like to manuver behind an enemy, using him for a shield while taking the ears off cats/stalkers. De-earing seems to be my specialty.

I split my weapon groups into left arm/head, right arm, SRMs, tag (if used). Just be carefull on heat!

Very nice and compact build. I can work with that. I will look into it later. Not because I don't like your build just because I have so much stuff to do. Sorry.

Raso, on 16 February 2013 - 03:17 PM, said:

My best and favorite build is very typical for a Hunchback 4SP but none the less very effective.

The lasers are grouped into 2 groups, my left arm and right arm. This allows me to fire around a corner or from behind a friendly mech with out having to worry about damaging him.

The mech is fast enough to work as a heavy recon and works very well in the conquest mode. It has the speed and firepower to tack capture points and fend off would be intruders.

This mech truly excels, though, when paired with another speedy medium, or 2. A pair of 4SPs have the maneuverability and the firepower to wreak havoc on the enemy ranks.

This looks very decent. I will look into it later. Not because I don't like your build just because I have so much stuff to do. Sorry.

Pkunk, on 16 February 2013 - 03:06 PM, said:

My best build is my AWS-9M. It is the perfect mix of speed, armor and firepower. I get 2-3 kill on average but 4 or 5 is by no means an exception. These are the results of some games I played tonight:http://cloud.steampo...C26FDBAFC61BA9/http://cloud-2.steam...6DAAA34C431B4F/
I added this because it shows that even with a really crap game/team this build can still score.http://cloud-2.steam...68BD60F327026B/
Key to this mech is positioning and knowing when to focus specific targets. But that is the case for most mechs. But is just works best on this mech. I like to flank or strike from behind. You can kill most mechs with alpha's without overheating in this.

Sadly, I sold my Awesome some time ago so I could help pay for a new Stalker. I made a similar builf in my stalker but I found that it was even more vulnerable at close range than my Awesome was. My Awesome was faster and had better torso twist as well as a shield arm.

I know that the 4 or 6 large laser Stalker is a popular build and while it's no longer the FTW build of the week it does come at the cost of speed and the Stalker's galaxy wide famous poor torso twist. I've also not had a chance to test an Awesome since the changes to it's acceleration and turn speed, since that was my last one, but if someone else would like to doll up an Awesome for a screenshot I would be grateful.

Now I can't remember if you had brought up my choice of Artemis in my 4SP or someone else's but allow me to set the record straight. The SRM6s in my 4SP need that Artemis to be effective at a distance greater than mech spooning. I am able to get 8 to 10 missiles to score direct hits on a medium, and more on an assault, from 180m out. This gives me the option to strike at the back armor of fleeing mechs or to open up a heavy attack from a further distance. Note that you have the heat to preform a few alpha strikes but usually I open up with my left and right arms at a distance before closing in and striking with my missiles. The Artemis allows me to open up at a greater distance when I feel the need arises but it also means that at point blank range more missiles hit a single armor sector than with out.

I know this looks silly on paper, but its fast, precise, well armored, has a 450 optimal range, and fantastic damage. I run the shoulder and arm mounted guns in separate fire-groups. That way I can alternate most of the time to deliver persistent damage, or alpha when a juicy enough target presents itself. With good maneuvering it can go toe to toe with Assault mechs.

I tried this on a whim, just for kicks, but it has rapidly become one of my favorite load outs.
I can post screenshots later.

- Try to soften up enemys as early as possible to support your brawling teammates. This is best done by taking quick shots out of cover and immediately returning to cover if they attempt to shoot back.

- Dont be afraid of light mechs. PPCs are excellent at taking them out at range and your SRMs can deal with them up close.
Ideally you should get a PPC Alpha in before they get close. With a bit of lag-shooting and aim its not too hard.

- If you notice enemies with heavily damaged components, destroy them quick and efficiently.

- Set up a chainfire PPC weapon group, you dont want to Alpha every single time.

Pictures:

My team was already dead when the enemy still had 3 left, one nearly undamaged. I managed to take an enemy catapult out via headshot. One damaged Atlas took two Alphas in his CT. And the last Atlas was a tough one, however eventually i could destroy him.https://www.dropbox....03%20Gegner.jpg